Heretofore various arrangements have been tried for using a high velocity water jet for the purpose of cleaning or removing various substances such as grease, paint and the like from surfaces. To accomplish the cleaning operation, a high velocity stream impacts the surface to remove various substances and the effectiveness of such removal depends upon the velocity of the fluid, however, the more discrete the streams, usually the smaller the impact area and as a result the nozzle must be moved about to sweep the surface to the area being cleaned. Nozzles producing a fan-shaped spray have been used to increase the area of contact by the stream and thus reduce the amount of relative movement required to sweep a given area. However, the fan-shaped spray requires a diffusion of high velocity water and typically impacts with less force and velocity than that of the smaller discrete stream.
An object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved nozzle that retains the advantages of the discrete stream but which automatically moves the point of impact of the stream rapidly about so as to sweep a larger area than simply that of the discrete stream but without the disadvantage of diffusing the stream and thereby reducing the impact velocity of the fluid.
Another object is to provide a rotating nozzle which is mounted for rotation about a fixed hollow shaft from which a high velocity stream of water is discharged through the rotating nozzle. The rotating nozzle is inclined with respect to the high velocity stream and causes it to change direction. Due to the relatively high velocity of the stream as it enters the inclined nozzle it has relatively low pressure and thus no seal is required between the discharge end of the hollow shaft and the rotating nozzle.
And yet another object of the present invention is to provide a rotating nozzle which will direct a discrete stream in a generally circular pattern to rapidly sweep a generally circular path and continuously move the point of impact of the stream without having to move the nozzle about. With the high speed rotation of the nozzle of the present invention, the discrete stream is constantly moving in a looping circular path quickly covers a large area with a minimum of manual movement of the high pressure gun by the operator.